JPS58220659A - Method for improving quality of wheat flour - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the qualities of wheat flour (e.g. visco-elasticity, water- retainability, secondary processability, etc.) efficiently in a short time, without causing food hygienic problems, by treating wheat flour with nonequilibrium plasma. CONSTITUTION:Wheat flour is put into a cold plasma generating apparatus, which is evacuated and then filled with a gas such as air. After exhausting the gas from the apparatus to a vacuum of <= about 20Torr, the wheat flour is brought into contact with nonequilibrium plasma generated in the apparatus by the irradiation of high-frequency radiation for about 10min.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for improving the quality of wheat flour, and more particularly to a method for obtaining flour of improved quality without any food hygiene problems in a very short processing time. . In the present invention, improving the quality of wheat flour includes improving the viscoelasticity of flour when used as dough, improving the water retention capacity of starch in flour, and improving the appearance and texture when making cakes. It refers to improvements in the quality of wheat flour that are generally known to improve suitability for subsequent processing. , .

Conventionally, in order to improve the quality of flour, wheat flour was aged for a long time, quality improvers such as potassium bromate, ammonium persulfate, and benzoyl peroxide were added to the flour, or chlorine dioxide was added to the flour. Gas, nitrogen dioxide gas, etc. were brought into direct contact with the flour.

However, the aging process for wheat flour takes a long time, so the processing efficiency is low! r It is always bad, and the quality improvement effect of flour is not fully satisfactory.

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In addition, methods of adding quality improvers or treating with gases such as nitrogen dioxide gas not only do not have the drawback of requiring a long treatment time as in the case of ripening, but also have extremely noteworthy effects on improving the quality of flour. be. However, when such quality improvers and gases such as nitrogen dioxide gas are used, they remain in the flour. Among these quality improvers and gases such as nitrogen dioxide gas, traps include those that are suspected of being carcinogenic, such as potassium bromate, and those that cause allergic reactions, such as ammonium persulfate. What was preferable?

Under these circumstances, there is currently a strong desire to develop a method that can improve the quality of wheat flour in a short time without using quality improvers that pose food hygiene problems.

The present inventors focused on this point and researched a method for improving the quality of wheat flour that can improve the quality of wheat flour without using any of the above-mentioned quality laxatives or gases that are undesirable in terms of food hygiene. did. As a result, it is possible to improve the quality of flour in an extremely short time by generating non-equilibrium plasma by irradiating high frequency waves under reduced pressure and bringing the generated egg plasma into contact with flour. We obtained periodic knowledge.

The gist of the present invention, which was completed based on this knowledge, is - A method for improving the quality of wheat flour, which is characterized by bringing wheat flour into contact with non-equilibrium plasma.

The content of the present invention will be described in detail below.

Plasma is a state in which a substance absorbs extremely high energy, causing the charged particles that make up the substance to dissociate and become ionized gas. Plasma can be roughly divided into equilibrium plasma and non-equilibrium plasma. Equilibrium plasma is a discharge with relatively high gas pressure, such as an arc discharge. On the other hand, non-equilibrium plasma is usually also called "low-temperature plasma" and is plasma generated under reduced pressure with low gas pressure, and its temperature is low.

The present invention aims to improve the quality of wheat flour by utilizing the latter of the above plasmas, that is, non-equilibrium plasma. Gases that can be used to generate non-equilibrium plasma include gases such as air and oxygen, but the gas is not necessarily limited to these, and any gas may be used as long as it does not pose a problem in terms of food hygiene. In order to generate non-equilibrium plasma using these gases, a generally known low-temperature plasma generator may be used.

In order to subject wheat flour to nonequilibrium plasma treatment in the present invention, flour is first placed in a low-temperature plasma generator.

In this case, there is a method of filling a tray with flour in a thin layer with an approximately uniform thickness and storing the tray in a low-temperature brush generator, or using a low-temperature plasma with a function of stirring the flour. How to store it inside the generator, etc.
This is convenient for efficiently bringing flour into contact with non-equilibrium plasma. However, since it is only necessary to bring both G into contact with each other, the method is not limited to the above method, and any suitable contact method can be adopted.

After storing the flour in the low-temperature plasma generator □, the pressure inside the low-temperature plasma generator is reduced to a desired degree of vacuum K. Next, high-frequency waves are irradiated, or an appropriate gas is injected and discharged, followed by high-frequency waves. Non-equilibrium plasma is generated in this way, and the degree of pressure reduction at this time is preferably 20 torr or less. Whether non-equilibrium plasma is generated can be confirmed by the light emitted when non-equilibrium plasma is generated. The contact time between the non-equilibrium ptasma and the flour varies depending on the high frequency output, the type of gas, the degree of pressure reduction, the amount of flour processed, etc., but it is approximately 'M1'0.
A time of less than a minute is sufficient.

The wheat flour powder obtained in this manner had the same quality as that of wheat flour whose quality had been improved by ordinary aging treatment, chlorine gas treatment, etc., or had an improved quality. □ Comparative Experimental Example 1 (Treatment according to the present invention) After filling a tray in a low-temperature plasma generator with 100 f of wheat flour (soft flour) in a thin layer, the pressure inside the low-temperature plasma generator is reduced to 2 torr.

Next, a high frequency wave of 2450 MHz is irradiated with an output IKW, and at the same time oxygen is supplied at a flow rate of 200112/min. On the other hand, the degree of reduced pressure is maintained at 2 torr using a vacuum bomb to generate non-equilibrium plasma. The non-equilibrium plasma generated under these conditions is brought into contact with the flour for 5 minutes.

(Aging Treatment) 100 f of wheat flour was filled into a synthetic resin container and subjected to an aging treatment at 70° C. for 4 days in an open state.

(Normal pressure microwave treatment) Fill a synthetic resin container with 100f of wheat flour and
Microwave treatment at Hz power IKW for 5 minutes.

The wheat flour obtained by each of the above treatments and the untreated wheat flour were compared by 7alinogram and extensogellam. Figures 1 to 4 are the farinograms of each wheat flour. Figure 1 shows the farinogram of the flour treated with the present invention, Figure 2 shows the aging treatment, Figure 3 shows the atmospheric pressure microwave treatment, and Figure 4 shows the farinogram of the untreated flour. show. FIG. 5 shows the extensogellum of each wheat flour, where A shows the extensogellum treated with the present invention, B shows the aging process, C shows the atmospheric pressure microwave treatment, and D shows the untreated wheat flour extensogellam. The vertical axis in FIGS. 1 to 4 represents the strength (B, U,) of the flour dough, and the horizontal axis represents the kneading time (minutes) after adding water to the flour.

In addition, the water absorption Ab11 of the wheat flour obtained by each of the above treatments and the untreated wheat flour (when the wheat flour moisture is based on 13.5%) is 57.8% for the flour shown in Figure 1 and 55. 6%, t153.6% in Figure 3, and 52.5ch in Figure 4. The vertical axis in FIG. 5 represents the tensile strength (B, U,) of the flour dough, and the horizontal axis represents the degree of elongation (cm 2 ) of the flour dough.

Therefore, the Abs of the wheat flour obtained by the treatment of the present invention, the 7 alino pattern (Fig. 1), and the Abs of the untreated wheat flour.
Comparing g and Farino Paterno (Figure 4),
In the case of Figure 1, Abs is 57.8% and 52.5 in Figure 4.
- In the case of -, the price is higher and 500B from the start of mixing.
, the time until it touches the line of U (arrival time), and the time from the arrival time until it leaves the line whose upper end is 500 BU (stability) are also longer in Figure 1 than in Figure 4. ing. Furthermore, we take the center point of the farinogram 12 minutes after the peak time, apply it to a special scale, read the value of the valorimeter (V, V,), and compare the V, V, as shown in Figure 1. is higher than that in Figure 4. From these facts, the flour obtained by the treatment pressure of the present invention has a stronger dough than untreated wheat flour.

Next, when comparing Fig. 1 with the Abs of wheat flour obtained through the aging process and the flour pattern (Fig. 2), we find that Abs, Arrival time, Stability, V, V,
Both show similar trends. However, looking at the extenso pattern in FIG. 5, the wheat flour (A) obtained by the treatment of the present invention has a much higher tensile strength than the other flours.

From these facts, in terms of the viscoelasticity of wheat flour dough, the wheat flour obtained by the treatment of the present invention is clearly recognized to have a quality improvement effect compared to other flours. The viscoelastic properties of flour obtained by atmospheric pressure microwave treatment (Figures 3 and 5)
Figure C) is 15. There was almost no difference from that of untreated wheat flour, and therefore, almost no effect of improving the quality of wheat flour by atmospheric pressure microwave treatment was observed.

Next, we measured the water-holding capacity of starch in each wheat flour as exemplified in Comparative Experiment Example 1 to examine the quality improvement effect of the flour treated by the method of the present invention, and made trial cakes using each flour in the garden. A sensory test regarding appearance and texture was conducted.

Comparative Experimental Example 2 Measurement of Water Holding Power of Starch in Wheat Flour The starch obtained in Example 1 was added to 50 Q11 liters of water and stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. The precipitate obtained by centrifugation again is dried with hot air at 40°C. , then add 5 ml of water to 3 f of the obtained dried product (# powder)
The weight of the resulting precipitate was measured by the following formula.

A': Moisture content of dry material (total) B: Heavy II (f) C: Heavy electricity of sediment (1) How to make a prototype cake , blending ratio Flour 30.

Milk 50 Granulated sugar, 30 Salt-free putter 20 Baking powder 0.5 A little bit of vanilla essence.

The above mixture was stirred and mixed, then placed in a circular container with a diameter of 18 cIR, and heated in the open at 160° C. for 40 minutes to obtain a cake.

Table 1 shows the measurement results of the water-holding capacity of the starch and the sensory test results of the cake. In the sensory test of the cake, the appearance and texture of the cake made using untreated wheat flour was evaluated using a 5-point scoring system, with 1 being the appearance and texture, and 5 being the most preferable.

□ :: As is clear from Table 1, the flour obtained by the treatment of the present invention has excellent starch water-holding ability, and the cakes made using this flour also have better appearance and appearance than other □ ones. Both the texture and texture were excellent.

As described above, the quality of the wheat flour obtained by the treatment of the present invention is clearly improved not only in the viscoelasticity of the wheat flour dough and the water retention capacity of the starch, but also in the suitability for secondary processing into cakes and the like. Furthermore, the degree of quality improvement is also greater than in the case of fiber processing, which can improve quality without using quality improving agents, chlorine gas, or the like.

In the flour quality improvement method of the present invention having the above characteristics,
We use gases such as air and oxygen that pose no food hygiene problems, generate non-equilibrium plasma from these gases, and improve the quality of flour with the non-equilibrium plasma.
Eliminates the problem of quality improvers, chlorine gas, etc. remaining in the flour. Furthermore, there are advantages such as the time required for the quality improvement treatment is incomparably shorter than that for the aging treatment.

Example 1 After filling a tray in a low-temperature plasma generator with 100 f' of wheat flour in a thin layer, the inside of the low-temperature plasma generator was
Reduce pressure to torr. Next, a high frequency wave of 2450 Mu was irradiated with an output of 1.2 KW, and at the same time the air was heated for 20'.
Supplied at a flow rate of 0.0111j/min. On the other hand, the degree of reduced pressure is maintained at approximately 1°t6rr using a vacuum pump to generate non-equilibrium plasma.

The non-equilibrium plastic powder and flour generated under these external conditions are reduced to 0.
．． Leave in contact for 5 minutes. □Example 2 After filling a tray in a low-temperature plasma generator with 1 (l) of wheat flour in a thin layer, the inside of the low-temperature plasma generator was heated to 0.3
Reduce pressure to torr. Then 13, 56 MH'NO
While irradiating high frequency with an output of 100W, oxygen is irradiated at 201W.
4? Supply at a flow rate of /min.

On the other hand, the degree of reduced pressure is maintained at about 0.4 totr using a vacuum pump to generate non-equilibrium plasma. The non-equilibrium plasma generated under these conditions is brought into contact with the wheat flour for 1'0 minutes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 4 show farinograms of each wheat flour in Comparative Experiment Example 1, and the vertical axis is the strength of the flour dough (B, U,
), and the horizontal axis represents the kneading time (minutes) after adding water to the flour. Figure 5 shows the extensogellum of each of the above-mentioned flours, the vertical axis represents the tensile strength (B, U,) of the flour dough, the horizontal axis represents the degree of elongation (α) of the flour dough, and A is the result of the treatment of the present invention. Wheat flour, B is wheat flour subjected to aging treatment, C is wheat flour treated with normal pressure microwave treatment, and D is wheat flour untreated. Patent applicant: Michio Goto, agent of House Foods Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for improving the quality of flour, which is characterized by bringing flour into contact with non-equilibrium plasma. .